At the age of 19, Ward auditioned for the role of Robin. Adam West and he were up against Lyle Waggoner and Peter Deyell for the roles of Batman and Robin, respectively. Selected for the role of Robin, Ward thought people would find Gervis (the 'G' is soft, as in gentleman) hard to pronounce and adopted his mother's maiden name, Ward. He also changed the spelling of Bert to 'Burt' to add "punch".

Unlike the series' lead, Adam West, Ward was required to do some dangerous stunt work. He was told this was because his costume revealed more of his face, making it impractical for all of his stunt scenes to be performed by a stuntman. Later, he also discovered that he was being paid the minimum wage allowed by the Screen Actors Guild, and his stunt double was paid per stunt, so having Ward perform his own stunts was a cost-saving strategy. He would see the emergency room dozens of times during his time as Robin.[4]

At the height of the series' popularity, Ward recorded several musical tracks under the production of Frank Zappa. The first two, "Boy Wonder, I Love You" (which Zappa wrote) and "Orange Colored Sky", were released as a single on November 14, 1966. Two other tracks from these sessions, "Teenage Bill of Rights" and "Autumn Love", remain unreleased.[5]

During the first months of shooting, Ward was paid $350 per week.[6] By the series' end, he was earning up to $600 a week.[citation needed] The series only lasted three seasons, for a total of 120 episodes; according to Ward in an interview, this was because of the high cost of production. It was still high in the ratings, but ABC was losing a great deal of money.[citation needed] Later, NBC offered to pick it up for a fourth season, but the offer was withdrawn after learning that the sets had been destroyed.[7] Adam West and Burt Ward reprised their TV roles of Batman and Robin in the 20th Century Fox film Batman: The Movie released on July 30, 1966.

Burt said of Adam West, his mentor and friend for more than four decades, "We were completely opposite. Adam has been in many shows, tremendous, terrific background, but very "Mr. Hollywood". He wanted his tea at 4 in the afternoon, and me, I'm just like this kid that [sic] doesn't care, having a great time. And I think that's one of the reasons that the public like them because Adam was very introspective and I'm just this exuberant kid."[citation needed] In 1969, a year after Batman's cancellation, West's mother died, bringing the two men closer together. They have been reunited many times at conventions and TV reunion specials. In turn, Ward also made three guest appearances with West on separate cartoons: one was a 2002 episode of The Simpsons, later in 2010 on an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, and in 2013 for one of the final episodes of Futurama.

During a Pro Wrestling Unplugged angle with wrestler Johnny Kashmere, Ward "knighted" Kashmere as the "New Batman". Ward has appeared on the show several times, walking out to the theme music from the 1960s Batman.

In 2012, Bluewater comics was going to do a four-issue comic miniseries in homage to Burt Ward playing Robin called Burt Ward, Boy Wonder, but it apparently was cancelled. It starred Burt Ward and his crime fighting rescue dogs Gentle and Giant fighting crime. Part of the first issue was released on Free Comic Book Day 2012.

Ward's first wife was Bonney Lindsey, daughter of conductor Mort Lindsey. Their daughter Lisa Ann Ward was born in 1966 and became a mother in 1991. Ward and Lindsey married in 1965[12] and divorced in 1967. He was briefly married to actress Kathy Kersh whom he met when she appeared as a guest on the Batman TV show and to model Mariana Torchia. Since 1989, Ward has been married to Tracy Posner.[13] Their daughter Melody Lane Ward was born on February 16, 1991.